July 13, 2006

This historic legislation, first signed into law by President Johnson in 1965, has eliminated the most blatant forms of discrimination in voting practices and continues to send a strong message that American voters of all races have the full support and enforcement of the United States government behind them when they exercise a basic democratic right.

Contrary to the arguments of those that believe this law is no longer necessary, the extensive hearing record that accompanies this legislation proves that the need is as great as ever. In Georgia alone, 91 objections to voting practices have been processed by the Department of Justice since 1982, including four objections since 2002, preventing discriminatory voting changes from being enacted.

Indeed, additional action is necessary to guarantee the right to vote. Congress has failed to address the more subtle forms of discrimination that plague our voting system and were on full display in the last two Presidential elections. The right to vote doesn’t mean much to an individual who has to wait in a three-hour line to cast a ballot or who has a hostile election worker deny their right to a provisional ballot. Nor is the right to vote honored when votes mysteriously disappear and can’t be accounted for in a recount because there is no paper trail.

In 14 states, felons are denied the right to vote even after they serve their sentences.  I sincerely doubt the public would support a law prohibiting felons from freely practicing their religion after completing their prison terms. Yet we deny an equally fundamental right to millions of Americans who may have written a bad check or been convicted of a minor drug offense.

These issues are just as threatening to our democracy as poll taxes and voter intimidation, and so today cannot be viewed as the capstone, but rather the foundation, of our efforts to guarantee the right to vote.